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Movings/Shakings: 4 March

More new blood

TBWA has confirmed the arrival of Lisa Fedyszyn and Jonathan McMahon as creative directors, and also announced the appointment of Sarah Hobden as head of operations

“Toby Talbot, David Walden and I all reckon this a sign of great things to come. Lisa and Jonathan are a seriously talented team and Sarah, having run the production facility at Bartle Bogle and Hegarty in London, is undoubtedly one of the best in the business, so we’re thrilled they’re joining us,” says Todd McLeay, group chief executive.

Hobden has more than 20 years experience working in both London and Auckland advertising agencies, including Saatchi and Saatchi and, prior to that, BBH London. During her decade at BBH she rose to become a board director, was responsible for 26 creative teams, 45 producers and oversaw the entire creative process through all key stages of development. She brings a multi-dimensional skill-set having been a traffic manager, art buyer, producer and project director.

“Joining WhybinTBWA at a time like this is a really exciting thing to be doing and I can’t wait to get stuck in. I’m looking forward to working with old colleagues and introducing new governance and resource structures,” she says.

As for Fedyszyn and McMahon, incoming chief creative officer Talbot says he’s looking forward to working with them again. 

“They’ve really matured as a team. From the days of winning big awards for small clients at Colenso, they grew into a proper brand-building team at DDB. Now they out and out own projects, be it the Auckland YWCA Equal Pay campaign or setting up AWARD School in New Zealand. They are more than ready to step up as creative directors. And now, with Lisa, Jono and Steve Kane as CDs, we have the foundations of a great creative department to build on.”

“We’ve loved our time at DDB, and have learned a lot from Andy Fackrell in the last 18 months. But the opportunity to work with Toby again, along with Steve Kane and Todd McLeay, was one we just couldn’t pass up,” says Fedyszyn.

Stars align 

Brendan Hewitt of PHDiQ has been selected as one of only five finalists, and the only finalist from Australasia, in The Rising Star Award at the Festival of Media Asia. 

The award recognises the Best Talent Under 30 in media and Hewitt ventured to Singapore on Friday to take a brief from Samsung on Sunday 3 March, where he has only 24 hours to respond to a brief. Hewitt, who was also chosen as a winner of Yahoo’s Digital Stars award, will square off against competitors from Thailand, Singapore and India. 

“Brendan Hewitt has been a Rising Star since he walked in PHD’s door in 2010 as a fresh-faced young graduate,” Louise Bond, chief executive of Spark Group. “We’re not the only ones who think he rocks.  Our clients and industry pundits alike consistently praise his strategic nous and the way he nurtures high quality relationships. Brendan’s work speaks for itself, garnering awards such as Yahoo! New Zealand Digital Star, NZ Lotteries’ X-Factor and Monteith’s ‘Sorry about the twigs’. Brendan is also a published author with, ‘The future: the Draper and the data’.  It’s no wonder he’s been given the nod.”

The response to brief will be judged by Samsung, Sophia Ng from the Singapore Tourism Board, with the jury chaired by John Sintras, chairman SMG Australia and director. 

Industry voice 

Marlen Smith has taken on the role of industry development manager for CAANZ. 

Smith cut her commercial teeth in pharmaceutical sales and special project management, which opened the door to the world of advertising and marketing. 

She was marketing manager at Georgie Pie Family Restaurants and, coinciding with a period of rapid nationwide expansion, the role included all national marketing initiatives, the appointment of Saatchi & Saatchi, and the opening of 22 restaurants in 24 months.  

After returning to university to complete a post graduate marketing degree, she has more recently succeeded in senior marketing roles with Fujifilm NZ and Kensington Swan lawyers. 

Beat up

Grey Lynn PR agency Beat Communications has announced the appointment of Sarah Williams as account executive across its fashion and lifestyle portfolio. The new appointment comes as a result of recent client additions—Icebreaker and Spotify—and she joins from Stephen Marr.

James Boult has also been promoted to senior account manager and account director Gina McKinnon has joined the team working on the recently acquired Cadbury account. McKinnon is an experienced PR professional having worked across a range of industries including ANZ, Telecom, Sony and Gillette.

Hot to trot

Global PR and communications agency Hotwire has announced the launch of new data-driven services powered by Listening Post, an in-house analytics platform.

Listening Post was developed by 33 Digital, a specialist digital PR and social media agency and member of the Hotwire group. And this product launch follows the recent introduction of the Hotwire Measurement Framework to improve transparency and measurement, and the Digital Trends Report 2013

The new services are: 

  • Social media audit and audience analytics, offering a far deeper insight than previously available with the ability to analyse messaging, audience, tone of voice, pet subjects and issues.
  • Reputation management, enabled by Listening Post to produce monthly, daily, or even hourly reports on social media buzz, topics related to the client and stories the client can ‘issues jump’.
  • Crisis communications, powered up with closer scrutiny of social conversation between stakeholders who shape a story during the crisis, including journalists, analysts, academics and other influencers.
  • Influencer relations, by better understanding people and groups and their up-to-date attitudes towards issues and brands, product launches can be given a new lease of life, and spread by the passions of grassroots fans.

“Managing PR or communications now starts and ends with data,” says Phil Sheard, 33 Digital country manager for Australia/New Zealand. “We built Listening Post after being required to track conversations in real time, target influencers who wield the power to start or stop a story spreading online, and measuring in more detail how organisations and brands influence conversations.” 

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